Sixth-graders at Grand Rapids Aberdeen Elementary listen to their teacher on the first day of school.MLive.com file photo

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – About 200 Grand Rapids Public Schools administrators will receive pink slips indicating their contracts may not be renewed after this school year as part of a restructuring plan that will close 10 schools next year.

Lay-off notices for other employees won’t be far behind.

The Grand Rapids Public Schools board on Monday, Feb. 4, approved issuing notices to all its administrators giving them 90 days notice that their contracts may not be renewed effective June 30. School officials say notifying all administrators will give them broader options for retaining the best talent, a major component of Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal’s so-called transformation plan approved by the school board in November.

The district will consider similar moves for all seven of its employee groups as it moves closer to the end of the school year. Teachers likely will be among the last as their final evaluations take place in May.

The district’s transformation plan specifies closing 10 schools including Creston High School meaning the district will no longer have a need for some administrative staff. The plan also calls for closing Campau Park, Covell and Shawnee Park Math/Science/Technology elementary schools.

“One of the biggest parts of the transformation plan was around talent and recruitment,” district spokesman John Helmholdt said. “It is our intention with the implementation of this plan to retain the top talent in every position throughout the district.”

The plan — expected to save district taxpayers an estimated $4.4 million yearly and some $22 million during the next five years — also calls for closing four early-education sites. Half the money will be invested in academic achievement and the other half used to bolster the district’s cash reserves projected by year’s end at $16 million of a $211 million 2012-13 school year budget.

The plan also calls for reviewing administrative staffing needs in the district’s central office, which could prompt a domino effect of administrators moving from central office posts back into schools, officials said. They declined to speculate how many administrators ultimately could be affected.

“There may be a number of position changes that could trickle all the way down to the schools,” Helmholdt said.